BJP knew nothing about Babri Mosque demolition: Ram Naik

New Delhi: In what comes as quite a revelation, Ram Naik, a BJP leader and former Uttar Pradesh governor, said that his party was absolutely clueless about the wreckage of the mosque structure and got the information only after the controversial tomb was razed, reported IANS.

In an interview with the news agency IANS, Naik apprised about the happenings at the BJP headquarters in Delhi on the day of December 6, 1992, when the disputed Babri Mosque in Ayodhya was demolished.

On being asked about what was happening at the BJP quarters and his role at the time, Naik said, “I was the party’s chief whip at that time and on December 6, I, with senior party leader Sundar Singh Bhandari, was keeping a tab on every development in Ayodhya.”

“But at that time, modes of communication were less, mobiles were not there. We did not have so many television channels. We were gathering information through landline phones (telephones),” he added.

About his source of information and who he was passing the information to, the former Union Minister said, “That time, of the two veteran leaders, Lal Krishna Advani was in Ayodhya while Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in Delhi. The BJP was our source of information and inputs were being passed on to Vajpayee Ji.”

“On the basis of all the information, Vajpayee Ji held a live press conference the next day,” said Naik.

On being asked what was the situation in Delhi that day, the leader said, “We were getting information that party workers and Kar sevaks are reaching Ayodhya... How many of them were stopped and where they were stopped, what Advaniji and other senior party leaders said in their address to the public.”

“We were completely clueless that anything of that sort was about to happen. We got the information, only after Babri Masjid was demolished,” Naik added.

(With inputs from IANS)

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